University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA Track Championships Updates - Day Three
6/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
The third day of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., is off to an ominous beginning as severe weather is causing a delay in the start of action.
All of our traveling party is in safe locations. Liz Roehrig left for the track before the storm hit and is now waiting out the storm with Coach Matt Bingle and athletic trainer Jeff Winslow in Walton Arena, the Arkansas basketball facility. The long jump, the fifth heptathlon event and the first of the second day, was scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m. Once we get word of the new start time, we’ll let you know.
The remainder of the traveling party, both on the men’s and women’s teams, are at their respective team hotels.
After scoring a career-high first-day total (3.651 points), Liz is just 12 points out of the lead in the heptathlon.
3 p.m. The weather has cleared and the heptathlon is set to continue.
3:45 p.m.
There is little room for error as the heptathlon competition heads into the home stretch. Liz Roehrig needed a big jump on her third attempt to remain among the event leaders. Roehrig landed a leap of 19-3 3/4.
Michigan Bettie Wade has taken over the heptathlon lead with 4,554 points after sailing a leap of 20-9 1/4 to win the long jump event. Nia Ali from USC, the leader after day one, is now in second with 4,479 points. Roehrig slipped to third with 4,461. Oregon’s Brianne Theisen is fourth with 4,424.
4 p.m.
An updated schedule of events has been issued. The women's pole vault will now begin at 8:30 p.m. The running schedule is pushed back 65 minutes so the men's 5,000 meters will be run at 9:45 p.m.
5:25 p.m.
Thiesen jumped to the heptathlon lead with big throw in javelin (148-0) and heads into the final event (1,500m) with a 67-point lead over second-place Nia Ali. A very talented 800-meter performer, the national title is Theisen’s unless something drastic occurs in the seventh event. Roehrig remains in third place overall after scoring 635 points on a javelin toss of 125-8. Roehrig’s third-place total of 5,096 is 18 points ahead of Big Ten rival Michigan’s Bettie Wade.
5:55 p.m.
Roehrig moved up to second place overall, posting her second consecutive NCAA runner-up showing, by running a time of 2:22.05 in the 800 meters to score 796 points. Roehrig’s heptathlon total of 5,892 set a Minnesota record for the third time this season and the seventh time in her career. She ends her Golden Gopher career as a five-time NCAA All-American.
Oregon’s Theison ran a time of 2:14.77 to secure the national title and surpass 6,000 points with a winning tally of 6,086. Wade finished third with 5,876 points. Three Big Ten heptathletes finished in the top five with Penn State’s Gayle Hunter adding a fifth-place finish (5,797).
A highlight video on Roehrig’s NCAA heptathlon will be posted hopefully within the next hour. The next Gopher action is at 8:30 p.m. when Alicia Rue competes in the pole vault final. Rue has been among the elite vaulters in the nation this season. She was the NCAA runner-up during the indoor season. She is undefeated this outdoor season and owns a career-best of 14-3 1/4.
Players Mentioned
